Shadows Of The Forest
by bopsie
Summary: When one cats greed leads to destroying three of the four clans, many cats rise up to stop him. This is a AU (Alternate Universe) where the Clans never left the old forest
1. Prologue

At the edge of the Thunderpath, separating ShadowClan and ThunderClan stood two cats, one sat motionless, gazing out towards the forest across the Thunderpath, his gaze unfaltering. His companion was pacing up and down a little way off, the dark tabby flicking his tail crossly as Monsters raced up and down the vile smelling river of black stone. An owl hooted in the distant pines going on it's nightly hunt, causing the dark tabby to stop his pacing a keep an eye out for the creature. Movement on the other side of the Thunderpath caused the two cats to prick their ears, the ferns parted revealing a young rabbit. The two cats sighed and went back to waiting, the dark tabby resumed his pacing.

"Patience Shadeheart, they will come." The first cat mewed to the younger tom.

"We've been out here since moonrise Lionstar!" Shadeheart hissed.

"We have not, we've only been here since moonhigh." Lionstar replied.

"And why are we even out here? We should be in our nests!" Shadeheart spat, clawing at the soft ground.

"You know as well as I do, ThunderClan has been stealing prey, we need to catch them in the act." Lionstar said, returning to his gazing.

"Says you! I don't have to sit around and wait for cats who aren't going to show their faces!" Shadeheart hissed.

"Yes you will, I'm your leader, Shadeheart! My word is law." Lionstar growled, rising to his paws and glared at the young warrior.

"Oh no, Lionstar, you see your no leader! All this talk about peace among the Clans? We should be enslaving the other Clans! With ShadowClan the supreme leader, kill the other three leaders, stationing our strongest and most blood-thirsty cats as spies! We could rule the whole forest!" Shadeheart yowled.

The old cat looked at the younger tom in stunned shock, before it was replaced with rage.

"How dare you think like that! There has always been four Clans with no Clan holding another hostage! It is unthinkable! I don't want to hear another word of this spoken out loud again! You are not a leader, you will never be a leader and you cannot make a leader think the way you do!" Lionstar hissed.

"Oh that's where you are wrong you old bat! I'm going to be the leader of ShadowClan and your not going to get in my way." Shadeheart hissed, leaping at the golden leader and raking his claws down his face, his claws hitting his opponents eyes.

Lionstar yowled in pain, paws at his ruined eyes, shaking scarlet drops of blood off his face, and into the bracken.

Shadeheart laughed, "What's the matter Old Bat? Can't you see me?" He mocked, leaping at the old tom and barreling him to the very edge of the Thunderpath, holding the struggling tom to the ground waiting for his chance. He didn't have to wait very long.

"Do me a favor, greet your precious daughter and both of you pray that I don't murder that little weak scrap of fur she kitted, good thing I murdered her before she could bring more kits into this world." Shadeheart growled, flipping onto his back, heaving the old blind tom onto his chest and using his hind legs, kicked the leader onto the Thunderpath, listening as a monster roared past. The resounding '_thump' _told that the monster hit it's mark. The tabby tom stalked out to view his handiwork.

"One down, one more possibly two to go." He growled gleefully, and stalked back to camp.


	2. Chapter 1

"Let all those old enough to catch their own prey join here under the Clanrock for a Clan meeting!" A dark tabby tom yowled into the early morning.

Within a few moments sleek cats started streaming from the dens, elders poked their heads out of their den, queens slid out of the nursery, their kits rolling out with flailing tails as other kits jumped on them only to be guided by their mothers tails.

Once the clan had settled down did the dark tabby speak, "Today ShadowClan grows stronger! We've survived leaf-bare without greencough, none of our elders suffered the heartache of having to bury their clanmates! And today we will witness the makings of two new warriors! Scruffypaw and Palepaw have passed their assessments and are ready to take their place as full warriors of this clan!" The tabby said, watching as the two apprentices where escorted by his previous two apprentices, Ambertail and Lizardclaw.

"I, Shadestar, leader of ShadowClan call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this Apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a Warrior in his turn." Shadestar said.

"Palepaw, do you promise to uphold the warrior code and to protect and defend your clan even at the cost of your own life?" Shadestar asked.

The pale tabby was shaking with excitement, "I do." He mewed.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your Warrior Name. Palepaw from this moment on you will be known as Palebranch, StarClan honors your speed and your sense of humor, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ShadowClan." Shadestar yowled, laying his chin on Palebranch's head.

Palebranch was shaking so hard that he barely managed to lick Shadestar's shoulder respectfully.

Shadestar purred watching his apprentice dash off to his clanmates, then turned to the ginger and white apprentice.

"Scruffypaw, you have proven to the Clan and I that just because your mother was a kittypet and your father broke the code, you have proven to us that you are worthy of being a warrior of the greatest clan in the forest, you're the best fighter in this clan by far the best I've trained, and I know you are destined for great things." Shadestar said, looking at the young cat fondly.

"Thank you, Shadestar." Scruffypaw mewed.

Shadestar nodded, "I, Shadestar, leader of ShadowClan call upon my warrior ancestors to look down on this Apprentice. He has trained hard to understand the ways of your noble code, and I commend him to you as a Warrior in his turn." Shadestar said.

The young cat looked at Shadestar admiringly.

"Scruffypaw, do you promise to uphold the Warrior Code and to defend and protect your Clan, even at the coast of you're own life?" Shadestar asked.

"I do." Scruffypaw mewed.

"Then by the powers of StarClan, I give you your Warrior Name. Scruffypaw from this moment on you will be known as Scruffypelt. StarClan honors you're bravery and skill in battle, and we welcome you as a full warrior of ShadowClan." Shadestar said laying his head on Scruffypelt's head.

Scruffypelt lick his shoulder and stood beside Palebranch, his head held proudly.

"Palebranch! Scruffypelt!" The clan yowled, coming up to congratulate the two new warriors.

"Scruffypelt, Ambertail, and Lizardclaw, my den, please." Shadestar called after a while.

The three warriors excused themselves and followed their leader into his den, sitting down while Shadestar appraised them, looking for any sign of weakness, or any sign of defiance. He found none, just curiosity.

"You three are probably wondering why I call you, and I'll get to that in a moment, you three are the biggest cats in ShadowClan. Ambertail, you are the most vicious warrior I have ever trained, Lizardclaw, you show great promise in being the next leader after I'm gone, Scruffypelt, you are by far the biggest cat I've ever seen, while your father is rather massive himself," Shadestar said, purring with satisfaction watching the young tom's eyes darkening at the mention of his medicine cat father, "You are by far even larger than ThunderClan's leader, Maplestar." He finished, eyeing the three cat critically.

"Your point, Shadestar? You are being a tad cryptic." Ambertail mewed, flicking an ear back.

"My point is that we are the best clan in the forest, we have the numbers, and the fierceness needed to take over the other three clans, with me as the sole leader of the clans. You three will be in charge of the other three clans, the she-cats of the other clans will be divided up between all the males in ShadowClan and are to be pregnant. Then the tom-kits will be trained to be warriors, the she-kits will be trained also but are to be expecting kits soon after they earn their names." Shadestar said.

The three toms looked at each other before looking back at their leader, each one blinking in stunned shock, it was several moments before one of them regained the ability to speak.

"Are you mouse-brained? There has always been four clans, one clan can't rule the other three, look what happened to Tigerstar! He got murdered, by his own Clan!" Ambertail said, his tail flicking back and forth nervously.

"You see, Ambertail, this is how it will go down, we kill the other leaders, deputies, and medicine cats and we then station our strongest in the other clans and then we will own the entire forest!" Shadestar said.

"Well… We won't help you. It's against the code for one and two we need four clans." Lizardclaw mewed.

"You will, my word is law, and if you still won't I'll just have to take care of your mate and kits, Lizardclaw." Shadestar growled.

"You will not touch Silvermask or Mistkit and Icekit!" Lizardclaw mewed.

"Yes I will if you don't help." Shadestar said.

Lizardclaw looked at his fellow clan mates, Ambertail was looking at his paws for he also had a mate with kits on the way. Scruffypelt and Palebrach who just earned their names didn't yet but they knew what was at stake.

"We'll help…" Lizardclaw mewed.

"I knew you would." Shadestar said, raising one paw to clean his claws.

"What are we going to do first?" Scruffypelt asked.

"I figured we'd get rid of the WindClan cats first, as they are the weakest, and Sparrowstar is ancient, he shouldn't be too hard to take down." Shadestar said.

"But he has had moons to work on his fighting… I suggest we take out RiverClan and their new leader, Applestar." Ambertail mewed.

"Ambertail has a point there." Lizardclaw said.

"Fair enough… but I still say we should take WindClan first, but I have to admit I don't think I could win against Sparrowstar yet." Shadestar mewed.


End file.
